President Joe Biden is facing pressure from some major Democratic donors ahead of a critical few days in his campaign for re-election.
A number of donors are publicly warning they will withhold funds unless Biden is replaced as the party’s candidate following his disastrous debate performance last week.
Friday is a big day for the president as he seeks to shore up his candidacy with a rare primetime TV interview and a rally in Wisconsin.
Pressure on Biden, 81, to step aside has grown following a debate marked by several instances where he lost his train of thought.
While he admitted that he “screwed up” that night, he has vowed to stay on as his party’s standard-bearer taking on Donald Trump in the November presidential election.
Scrutiny on his public appearances has markedly increased since the debate.
In a White House speech to military families on Thursday to mark July 4 Independence Day, he stumbled over his words when referring to Trump as “one of our colleagues, the former president”.
And in an interview with WURD radio in Philadelphia, he lost his thread and appeared to say he was proud to be the first black woman to serve with a black president.
Donors have been weighing their options. Abigail Disney, an heiress to the Disney family fortune, told business news channel CNBC that she did not believe Biden could win against Trump.
She said her intent to pull support was rooted in “realism, not disrespect”.
“Biden is a good man and has served his country admirably, but the stakes are far too high.”
The consequences of defeat in November “will be genuinely dire”, she added.
Disney has given thousands of dollars to left-leaning political groups this year, according to Federal Election Commission records. But a spokesperson for the Biden campaign told BBC News she has not donated to the campaign directly this cycle.
A handful of other wealthy donors have conveyed similar intent.
Philanthropist Gideon Stein told the New York Times that his family was withholding $3.5m (£2.8m) to non-profit and political organisations active in the presidential race unless Biden steps aside.
Hollywood producer Damon Lindelof, who has donated more than $100 000 to Democrats this election cycle, wrote a public essay in Deadline urging other donors to withhold their funds until there is a change.
The brother of Barack Obama’s former chief of staff, Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel, told a conference in Colorado that withholding funding was the key to ensuring Biden’s exit from the race, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. (BBC)
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